Welcome to Draw Tip Tuesday.
Here's your weekly dose of inspiration to build a creative habit one drawing at a time brought to you
by Sketchbook Skool.
Hi, welcome to Draw Tip Tuesday.
Not so long ago, I spent a morning in the museum with a bunch of other sketchers.
And as I was planning to go there I was thinking: "well, I have at least three hours there in the
morning".
So and I didn't really feel like drawing paintings at the Museum or statues or whatever and I'm always
fascinated by people in museums looking at art so I decided that that was what I was going to draw the.
And for those three hours I was going to spend, I brought an accordion Sketchbook.
I found it in a shop here in the Netherlands and it's not too big, not too thick, so it doesn't feel
intimidating or anything.
So I decided:" you know what?
I will fill the whole thing up and I will give myself those three hours I'm going to spend in the
museum," and I did.
I just used a Pentel pocket brushpen and started to draw as soon as I came in and said my hellos to
everyone.
I found myself a room.
Actually.
I found myself the room with the Nightwatch from Rembrandt, which is just a really great big room and a
lot of people come in there to see that masterpiece and they will stand around for a while and look at
all the details.
So I thought that would be a really good starting point for my drawing.
So I just started drawing someone who seemed to stand still for a few minutes.
And from there on I drew the next person and the next person.
And this way I filled up my page and the next page and I just folded out the accordion sketchbook.
I was sitting next to this pillar and I decided: "okay, I'm done with this room now," so the pillar
would be like my stopping point.
And from there I moved into another room where I found a spot to sit.
I would do the same, just working from left to right until I was done and actually I reached the end of
the paper.
Luckily, there was another side to the book.
So I just turned it around and started drawing again in another room.
This room was really great because they had this drawing festival going on so they had a lot of
workshops and a lot of opportunities to sketch and draw.
And that's what people did in this room and they gave you headphones with some classical music.
So it was very relaxing and very fun.
So I drew all the people around me again starting at the left of my view and then moving to the right just
going with the flow and not really thinking about any outcome and when I reach the girl that was
sitting next to me and drew her.
I knew I had to move on to the next room.
I only had a small bit of space left and also a small bit of time.
So and actually I feel like I rushed a little bit through these pages, but it's fine and I can tell you
the sense of accomplishment of filling these pages is so great.
Not just that.
Also the whole process of sitting there and drawing it's just really great.
And I think the accordion sketchbook is great for this kind of project.
Now.
I have another Sketchbook like this, which is a great example of another project that you can take up.
You can do it in a normal Sketchbook, of course, but I use this accordion sketchbook because well, it
just had been sitting on my shelf for ages and I felt kind of intimidated by it.
So I thought:" you know what?
Let's just start and we'll see where this goes".
To keep it very simple and easy to access I decided to not use it on location, but only at home and my
project was to paint every single room in my home.
And that's what I did.
I just started in the hallway where you come in, and from there on I moved from room to room and it was
great because it took me maybe a couple of weeks, maybe a little bit longer.
Every time I felt like it, I would just draw a little detail or I would draw a whole room.
You see things that you normally may overlook when you walk through your own home and now I was just
really making a portrait of our apartment.
And if I look at this again, I want to do it again.
I wonder if it would look completely different if I would do it again, even though my apartment hasn't
changed.
I think the accordion Sketchbook format is really accessible.
It's just really fun because there's never really an end to it.
If you feel like you haven't finished the drawing yet, you need to add something but you have reached
the fold of the page, you just unfold it, you move on and you go on it's an ongoing story.
Even if you're just filling it in little bits and pieces like just 15 minutes a day or whatever you will
fill all of it.
It's a very accessible way to draw and also to get into the habit of drawing.
Also, you can make your own.
For example, you start with a small one which you can put on the kitchen table or something and every
evening or every morning you make a drawing in it.
And that way you will fill it in small increments until you have filled the whole thing.
So I'll show you how you can make your own accordion Sketchbook.
It's really simple.
So I'm using just printing paper, of course you can use other kind of paper as well.
But maybe you just start with simple paper, so it doesn't feel that precious either.
You need two sheets and something to cut them with so either you use a knife or a cutting board or just
scissors.
And you will also need some glue.
Cut both of the sheets in half lengthwise.
Once you've done that you will have four sheets, and I think you can just use the three.
You can use that fourth one as scrap paper or something.
Now fold each sheet into two and then again into two.
Once you've done that get your glue out and glue them together.
Do it neatly, so everything will align and your booklet won't be crooked and hard to handle.
Now you just fold them like an accordion and there you have it.
You can start drawing.
Of course, you can also glue cardboards at the front and the back and then you will have a cover but you
can also just use it this way.
I hope this is helpful.
It will be a really fun project for a rainy day or a sunny day.
I hope you try it.
And if you do, please share whatever you make.
Share it using a hashtag #DDTinaction on any social media channel that you like so we can see what you
made have fun, and I'll see you next week.